Becoming Adam: GAE book review

@DennisVenema,

I think I could help you with the general issue - - though I note that Joshua has a few other philosophical angles that he explores.

But I think a lot can be accomplished long before we actually turn to these philosophical angles:

First, we must understand that the G.A.E. scenarios PRESUME a Trinitarian stance. This stance is not a scientific one: it accepts (even insists upon) the acceptance of the divinity of Jesus, his miraculous birth, and his miraculous resurrection.

Second, for the most part, these miracles are not interpreted by modern Christians as a refutation of science. They are one-off events which we generally accept as being beyond science to comprehend, let alone within the scope of science to refute.

Third, the miraculous creations of Adam and of Eve are seen in a similar light - - they are one-off events that are not interpreted as a refutation of Evolutionary science (or any science). And like the resurrection itself, these events likewise, if they happened, are not within the scope of science to detect, let alone refute.

Fourth, this leaves us with the matter of the audiences for whom the GAE scenarios are intended!: YECs, who are already quite satisfied that Tasmania has not been isolated for dozens and dozens of eons. YECs take for granted that Tasmania (like all known human populations) are already occupied by the descendants of Adam. For the struggling YEC who wants to accept millions of years of fossil evidence as proof of Evolution, the issue is not the isolation of Tasmania, but the metaphysical significance of Adam and Eve.

GAE makes it possible for Christians to reconcile a belief in Evolution with a belief in God making a special effort to create Adam and Eve. In the GAE model, the genealogical expansion of Adam’s lineage into all the various human population is not something that can be proved, but is more something that efficiently resists disproof!

How do I mean this? The God that miraculously resurrects Jesus in Jerusalem is of course the author of many other categories of providential miracles! If a boat is lost in a storm (a storm guided by God), and perhaps has only one survivor, discovered on a lonely Tasmanian beach, this surviving man or woman (or even a pair), can certainly effect the completion of Adam’s lineage reaching every place on the planet. Our task is not so much proving that something like that happened - - but more showing how easy such a thing would be for God to accomplish!

GAE is a theological stance offered to theologically oriented individuals. The idea that contact has to be proven is something I would have expected from atheist audiences - - not from groups who have had years to consider the providential power of God in the telling of the story of humankind!

2 Likes